Teaching Job Prerequisites for Student Success
Debbie Gowen
PSYC 7010: Learning and Assessment
Take home exam #1
February 14, 2000
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We have discussed many current tends and changes in required knowledge, attitudes, and skills that will be required for the information age. A variety of authors have described these trends and/or have offered their ideas about the requirements for success. Using this information, you are to critique the article, "Learning the Ropes is More Than Learning the Job" by Dave Murphy which appeared in The Atlanta Constititution on February 67, 2000.
Select what you consider to be the two most important points made by the author. Justify your selection by describing several trends that will make these particular points extremely important for K-12 students. Describe knowledge, attitudes, and skills that will be necessary to develop if one were to successfully take the author's advice on these points. How do your recommendations relate to the SCANS report and to Huitt's critique of that report? Your answer should include specific connections between the trends, the author's points, and the required knowledge, attitudes, and skills.
Finally, make specific recommendations about how teachers and schools can address the development of the prerequisities for success. For example, what should educators do to help students develop the necessary knowledge, attitudes, and skills so that they can "get their financial acts together" when students become young adults in their 20s.
What will workers need to be able to do in the future? In an article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, writer Dave Murphy (2000) listed prerequisite skills needed by workers to be successful in their careers. One of these skills was knowledge of technology. A second prerequisite listed by Murphy (2000) was the need for workers to constantly add new skills to their repertoire. Both of these skills are important because they relate to important trends that are currently taking place in the world today. In order to achieve these prerequisites, certain knowledge, attitudes, and skills will need to be developed. Elements of this knowledge, attitudes and skills are named in the SCANS report (as cited in Huitt, 1997) and in Dr. Huitt's critique of that report (1997). A final consideration discussed in this paper is how we, as teachers, can help students develop the necessary knowledge, attitudes, and skills to help our students become successful as workers.
One of the first things workers need to learn is technology. Murphy said, "Technology won't go away" (Murphy, 2000, p. 1). According to current social trends, he is correct. Technology is a major social trend influencing the work force today, and this technology is changing rapidly. In the manufacturing industry, improved technology is the reason that the U.S. now has the ability to produce three times the amount of goods that were produced after WWII with the same number of workers (Huitt, 1999). Whatever profession a person chooses, technology will be a part of it. For example, farming has become increasingly dependent on technology in the last 40 or 50 years. Doctors utilize more on advanced technology than ever before. Even stores and restaurants rely on computers in their day to day operation.
Changes in technology occur quickly. In a few weeks, Windows 2000 will be released. This means that workers using the older Windows operating systems will have to upgrade their skills. It seems that they just learned the Windows 98 system. This change is minor, but other changes occur that are not so minor. A business might quickly add a new computer system that changes the entire way they operate. Business cannot be put on hold for long while the employees learn new the system. Employees need to be ready with the skills needed to operate the equipment and use the technology.
Another trend that relates directly to technology is the movement of the world into the Information Age. The need to access information is crucial in many professions. The emergence of information-based technology means that workers will need to be prepared to use this technology. By the year 2000, according to the Department of Labor, at least 44% of workers will be working processing, gathering, retrieving, or analyzing information (Whitman, 1996). That information is available through the use of technology via the Internet.
A second important prerequisite skill named by Murphy (2000) in his article is that workers need to add new skills to the skills they already possess. Another way to look at his suggestion would be that workers should constantly update their skills. Adding or updating skills makes a worker more attractive to the current employer and to future employers. A social trend that illustrates this need is the shrinking or dejobbing of the workforce. Because they do not have to pay benefits for part-time employees, some companies are changing to part-time employees to cut costs. In the 1990's, some 35% of the workforce was either temporarily employed or underemployed (Rifkin, as citied in Huitt, 1999). Other companies are downsizing due to cost cutting. The people who are let go or fired are workers whose skills no longer fit the needs of the companies. Workers need to acquire new skills that will help them tackle new roles in their companies. Some jobs are being cut because of automation. In the manufacturing sector, automation is responsible for a drop in employment from 73% of the workforce in the 1960's, to a predicted 2% of the workforce within 30 years (Whitman, 1996). Also, innovations such as networked computer terminals sometimes enable individuals to become more productive, thus reducing the need for as many employees. About 10% or the workforce changes jobs every year according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Henoff, as cited in Lankard, 1998). No longer is one job for life a reality (Imel, 1995). People will have to add additional skills to prevent obsolescence or to give them advantages when finding new positions.
A second major social trend is that work itself is being transformed (Huitt, 1995). The need for workers to update or add skills is evident from this major social trend. No longer is one employee expected to do one job. Workers need to have a broader range of competencies that include organizational and management skills. Often jobs are often assigned to multi-task groups with members of the group performing variety of tasks. Job security depends on the employee having many skills. In other cases, jobs that were once performed by full-time employees are contracted out to self-employed workers. These people need to have a variety of skills to market themselves to future employers. Having a variety of skills would make someone more appealing to prospective clients.
Certain knowledge, attitudes, and skills are necessary for a worker to learn about technology. Because of the trend towards technology, workers need to be able to use technological equipment. A minimum requirement would be that workers need to be able to use computers to locate and process information. The SCANS report (as cited in Huitt, 1997) and Dr. Huitt's reorganization of that report (Huitt, 1997) include competencies essential for the workplace in the 21st century that relate to the use of technology. Among those that relate to the need for workers to learn technology include processing information, understanding technological systems; and applying technology to specific tasks. Certain attitudes and skills are important to achieving these goals. A worker must possess the intelligence to learn and to continue to learn because of the constant change in technology. Identifying the knowledge that will be beneficial and then pursing a course to gain that knowledge is a consideration. To know what knowledge is needed, the worker must be alert to new changes in technology. Motivation, goal-orientation, and goal-setting are attributes that a worker needs to pursue technological knowledge. Once the worker has learned to use the technology, he can use creativity when working with the information gathered.
For a worker to add skills or upgrade skills he already possesses, the worker must also have certain knowledge, attitudes, and skills. He or she must draw on these personal qualities because of the trends of dejobbing and the changing workplace in order to increase their value as employees. Self-motivation to learn a new skill is a needed characteristic of a worker trying to improve his value to employers. Self-efficacy goes with motivation. Workers must have a desire to learn and the belief that they can master the new skill. Self-management, a foundation skill in the SCANS report (as cited in Huitt, 1997) and listed also in Dr. Huitt's reorganization (Huitt, 1997), is needed to accomplish the learning task. Depending upon the skill to be mastered, various other attitudes and thinking skills might be needed. For example, if the worker wanted to improve his communication skills through writing, he would need to use certain cognitive skills of creativity, organization, and reasoning skills as listed by Dr. Huitt. (1997) Perhaps the worker wished to become more knowledgeable about the company where he was working in order to become a better employee. He would need to use the SCANS competencies of acquiring and evaluating data and perhaps understanding organizational systems. Learning new skills makes an employee a better worker.
The need for these skills to be taught in schools is well documented. The purpose of the SCANS report was to determine a level of skills required of young people entering the work force. It was also to include a strategy to help the schools do a better job preparing our students for their future. Dr. Huitt's critique of the SCANS report (Huitt, 1997) included additional skills and attitudes needed by workers of the future. Murphy (2000) included things every worker should learn in his article. Among those suggestions was learning technology and mastering new skills continuously. How can teachers and schools address the development of these prerequisite skills?
The teaching and use of technology in schools is an important issue in education. We must provide opportunities for the students to use technology in authentic situations. Isolated computer classes do not seem to be effective in helping students learn how to use technology (Eisenberg & Johnson, 1996). Restructuring the classroom with more project-based learning in content areas is one way to help the students see the need to use technology while giving them valuable experience in that area. As they complete projects, they will locate information, select what is important, organize, and process the information. They will use creativity in their presentation of the material they have gathered. While students are learning working on the projects and mastering the technology involved, they learn other skills that are valuable to employers. Cooperation, teamwork, and problem solving are other benefits of project-based learning. Teacher education is important too. Many teachers are not comfortable with new technologies that are available for use in the classroom. All teachers need to be computer literate. This means that in-service and other training opportunities need to be available for teachers, even mandatory in some cases. Another suggestion that might make the teaching of technology more important to students would be career education. This could help students see the need for more knowledge about technology. Students need to be aware of careers in highly technical career fields and also of the impact of technology on other jobs.
Technological training for students in schools is limited [instructor's note: a reference should be cited for such a statement]. Schools must venture outside their building for further help. Mentoring programs, where students get to visit actual workplaces, and business partnerships, where students were taught by businesses, would both be useful in furthering training in technology. Schools often do not have the up-to-date technology that businesses might have. Through mentoring and business partnerships, students would have more opportunities to see and work with new technological equipment.
Teaching students to be life-long learners is an important task that schools must accomplish. If they are life-long learners, they will be the kind of employees who constantly learn new skills and update their knowledge. Again, providing opportunities in the classroom for students to use a variety of skills is important. They must draw on a variety of skills and attitudes to accomplish cooperative learning assignments. Activities and projects that have no specified procedures or no single correct answer encourage students to use their own problem-solving skills, decision making, and skills for working with information, along with time-management and leadership skills. Another way to encourage students to learn a variety of skills and to keep learning would be career education. Career information would help students understand the changing job market. They could see the requirements for certain careers and the implications of the patterns of change in different sectors. This might help them realize the need for developing a variety of skills instead of concentrating on just one area.
In summary, workers must meet certain prerequisites to be successful. Among these are technological knowledge and the need to learn new skills. Social trends such as the use of technology, globalization, the dejobbing, and changes within jobs support that fact. The SCANS report (as cited in Huitt, 1997) and Dr. Huitt's additional qualities and competencies (1997) include these two prerequisites along with many others. We need to make changes in our teaching methods to insure that our students meet these prerequisites. Our schools need to provide students with experiences that help them develop the characteristics they need in order to insure their success in the future.
References
Eisenberg, M. & Johnson, D., (1996). Computer skills for informational problem-solving: Learning and teaching technology in context. ERIC Digest No.163 [online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov.databases/ERIC_Digests/ed392463.html
Huitt, W. (1997). The SCANS report revisited. Paper delivered at the Fifth Annual Gulf South Business and Vocational Education Conference, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA, April 18 [online]. Available:http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/students/scanspap.html
Huitt, W. (1999). Success in the information age: A paradigm shift. Background paper developed for workshop presentation at the Georgia Independent School Association, Atlanta, GA. [online]. Available: http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/context/infoage.html
Imel, S. (1995). Workplace literacy: Its role in high performance organizations. ERIC Digest No. 158 [online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed383858.html
Lankard, B. (1998). Career mobility: A choice or necessity? ERIC Digest No. 191 [online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed414436.htm
Murphy, D. (2000, February 2). Learning the ropes is more than learning the job. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, pp. R1, R5.
Whitman, P.D., (1996). Preparing students for a changing world. CCEA. [online]. Available: http//cavix.org/ccea/whitman.htm